I had planned to announce a new offer this week for a 28-day Energy Discovery Challenge that gives creators and entrepreneurs a personalized roadmap to discover their unique energy patterns, build the foundations for sustainable systems, and break free from burnout cycles through guided energy tracking, daily prompts + activities, and a supportive community of like-minded individuals.

And despite all my best laid plans, I realized over the holiday that I would have had to break boundaries with myself to hit that deadline.

It would be easy to look at this as a failure and reason to be discouraged. And 3-4 years ago, I would have done just that. Never mentioning it to anyone, ghosting from everything for 3-6 months, and spiraling until I could gather the energy to muscle past the critical voice in my head. It's also likely that I would have ignored my body's signals rushing up until the very last day and when it wasn't ready, still felt like trash at the end of it.

This time, I was able to admit that things were not going to plan and that I needed to adjust—without judgment, blame, or shame. After I came up with a new timeline, that worked within the constraints I had and needs to be met, I was able to reflect on the why and take lessons learned into future decision-making and product creation.

Did that critical voice go away?
No, but the volume was at a 3 instead of 29.

Am I free from any negative feelings?
Absolutely not, but I was able to meet them and be there for the parts of me who were/are disappointed.

Did I wallow in overwhelm a little while I got out of my own way?
yAAAAAAAhhhh lol then I was able to regulate and move forward.

Whether you're recovering from burnout, perfectionism, people pleasing, overworking, or any other myriad of toxic productivity related -isms and -ings, it's easy to romantisize reaching a magical place where those feelings never happen again. That you'll get to a point where it all works out every time.

But as soon as we give up that idea...

And instead focus on small shifts in the moment, the change we had hoped for arrives so much faster and easier. 

Not to be confused with fast or easy.

More like the difference between swimming laps in a lap pool vs. swimming against the tide in a coursing river. (my brain couldn't help itself 😂)

While I won't be launching it next week, I am really excited to be sharing more of the behind the scenes over on IG stories as I finish it up to go live next month! 

Do you ever get a gut feeling that something is off before you know what it is?

While I know this happens for me when it comes to other people and the external world, today I'm specifically talking about within yourself—like a vague sense a migraine is coming on before it fully hits or even feeling sluggish before the need for a nap fully registers. 

It can also look like hunger pangs, when your bladder is full, or feeling your heart race. It's a call from the body to the mind that something's off and it's looking for balance.

It's not just random intuition, gut feeling, or a sixth sense...

It actually has a name: interoception.

And it can be loosely defined as the perception of internal signals from the body. [1]

Research shows that we have a complex system that processes every signal your body sends, making sense of them long before our conscious mind catches up. [2]

Think of it like having an internal translator that's constantly working to understand what your body needs.

When you push through fatigue, ignore discomfort, or hold it until it physically pains you to get through a conference call before you go to the bathroom... you're overriding these signals. 

Would you tell someone to ignore the GPS and then blame them for getting lost?

I know I wouldn't, but that's exactly what hustle culture is telling you and then making you feel like it's your fault when burnout hits.

They say things like:

"Push harder, but if you burn out you clearly don't want it enough."
"Be available 24/7, but if you can't maintain boundaries that's on you."
"Scale bigger, faster, harder – but if your mental health suffers, you're just not cut out for success."

Sound familiar?

These aren't just toxic expectations. But impossible contradictions designed to keep you stuck in cycles of pushing yourself past your limits, then blaming yourself when your body finally says "enough."

Through all of this, your inner interpreter is working to help you navigate life as you experience it in your body. 

When I talk about understanding your unique energy pattern and working with your natural rhythms, it's to encourage you to learn to work with the systems that already exist within you. To unlearn all the ways you were taught to fight against yourself and ignore your needs for someone else's benefit. 

To stop fighting your natural rhythms and start flowing with them.

And this isn't just some feel-good theory.

(Though it does help you feel better, lol)

Studies show that people who better understand their body's signals make more effective decisions, manage their energy better, and experience less burnout. [3]

Your interpreter isn't trying to limit you – it's trying to help you exist sustainably.

The challenge?

Most of us were never taught how to listen to, let alone understand, what our interpreter is trying to tell us. We're fluent in external productivity rules but beginners at understanding our internal language.

So how does this connect to the other stuff we've worked on?

Last week, we created space for gentle reflection without the pressure of traditional year-end reviews. Those insights aren't just memories to file away – they're valuable clues about your unique energy patterns.

The challenges you faced, systems that supported you, and boundaries that served you well all tell a story about how your energy flows and where you did good at listening to your inner interpreter and where your body is asking for more attention.

Rather than pushing these lessons aside in pursuit of new goals, we can use them as a map for building more sustainable systems.

Think of last year's experiences as breadcrumbs leading you toward better self-understanding. Every task that drained you, every environment that energized you, and every boundary that protected you offers insight into the messages your body is sending.

Let's explore how to transform your signals into needs you can clearly define and meet in this week's...

This week, we want to give a little extra love to our bodies and the messages they are trying to send to us before things get hairy. Maybe it's that afternoon headache that shows up when you've been staring at your screen too long, or that mysterious stomach ache before a big meeting. Your body is constantly sending you signals - we just have to learn its language.

The goal is to get comfortable looking for these signals and acknowledging them as they happen. 

There's no "right" way for your body to communicate with you. Some of us get loud signals, others get whispers. Some have consistent patterns, others vary day to day. The goal isn't to find the "perfect" signals - it's to start noticing what your body is trying to tell you.

This work isn't a quick fix, it's a long game, but it does pay off. I've had whispers for as long as I can remember, but over time, listening for and acknowledging them has made those signals louder and easier to recognize.

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease in 2019. It's an autoimmune condition where my body thinks my thyroid gland is the bad guy and attacks it constantly. Which leads to not making enough of the right hormones that control a whole host of metabolic functions in the body and everything—from calorie and energy usage, growth development, heart rate, body temp, and cell growth and replacement—goes haywire.

At 19, I went through 3 doctors, heart sonograms, chest xrays, and a host of other tests trying to figure out why I was so tired. That process was so exhausting that when I walked away with 3 different diagnoses, I gave up on finding a solution for a while. I "managed" which really meant I ignored my body's signals to push through my symptoms.

In 2018, this had gotten so bad that I made the last year of my 20s the year of health. It took a year and 3 doctors to find one who would take me seriously. Over the course of 2019-2023, I would go through 2 more primary care physicians and 3 specialists before I would find a doctor who didn't blame all my other symptoms on anxiety, depression, or want to treat symptoms instead of root causes. 

The doctor who finally took me seriously, and gave me the diagnosis, spent 45 minutes in our initial meeting and just from our discussion was 90% sure it was a thyroid condition. As she went to leave the room and order labs for me, she stopped and looked back and asked, "How long have you been going gray?" I told her that I started getting my first gray hairs at 17 and it had just steadily progressed since then. I had dyed my hair for a bit but in 2013, I finally started growing it out and embraced the gray. She nodded her head and said, "That's what I thought. You've probably had this that long."

I turned 30 that year.

I spent 13 years with an undiagnosed condition where my body attacked itself daily. 

I'm sharing this because January is National Thyroid Awareness Month and not only are women are 5–8x more likely to experience thyroid problems than men...

1 in 8 women will develop a thyroid disorder in their lifetime.

Many thyroid conditions have subtle symptoms which make it difficult to detect early (see above 🤦🏻‍♀️) and while most thyroid diseases are lifelong, they can be managed with medication and/or lifestyle changes.

The two major thyroid conditions outside of cancer/tumors and goiters, are:

The earlier diagnosis and treatment can happen, the better quality of life improves and prevention of further health complications can happen.

Early diagnosis and treatment didn't happen for me and further health complications did happen. I also have broader metabolic and hormone struggles, PCOS, insulin resistance, and overlap of symptoms from being neurodivergent.

I'm not sure how much longer it would have taken to uncover, treat, and accommodate my support needs if I didn't first find and treat my thyroid disease.

I'm not a doctor but I know how valuable hearing personal experiences from others helped me in my journey. I'm always happy to answer questions, share my personal experience, and talk about the way I navigated finally getting a diagnosis. My email and DMs are always open if you want to chat 🫶

******************

See also, my disability rage: Ableism and misogony can get f*@ked. We had a global pandemic where the bells were sounded about mass disabling and warned that we would be seeing long-term effects of COVID for years to come even if we were able to adequately get it under control (spoiler, we were not able to get it under control.)

And then you see the disabled community using social media to help each other receive what miniscle benefits do exist for disablility (not just in the US but the UK, etc.) and then articles like this and this and this are written. (If you also want to vomit, go read the comments on this one specifically. 🤮)

And yet when the disabled numbers continue to rise because of fluctuating conditions like long COVID and mental health struggles from a world that is literally failing us all, they blame the people trying to help each other survive through it with "back in my day" bullsh!t. 

The systems be systeming-ing. This article calls out the realities against the above "outrage" but likely won't see half the traffic.

As someone who loves systems, it's important to recognize that systems are only as "good" or "bad" as the intention of those creating (and upholding) the systems. #ThankYouForComingToMyTedTalk

Here's a few ways you can let me know:

Option 1: 💌 Share with a fellow creative or business owner. Community starts with each of us and friends don't let friends chase their dreams at the expense of their mental health! If you know someone seeking more sustainability and harmony in their life and/or business, send this their way.

Option 2: 👋 Say hi! Hit reply and share a sentence or two about anything you enjoyed or hit home for you. I always hope these words find the right people at the right time, but it's always makes my day to hear from you!